Laurent Koscielny hails Arsenal's midfield duo

Arsenal defender Laurent Koscielny has hailed the side's midfield ahead of the game with Manchester United on Sunday and believes they have been crucial in the improvement of the defence.

Arsenal have been on a very impressive streak recently which has seen them go unbeaten in the last seven games, ever since their North London derby day defeat to Tottenham, and they have also only conceded three times in that unbeaten streak.

The centre-back partnership of Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker have been hailed recently by boss Arsene Wenger, but Koscielny insists the help from the midfield has been an added boost to the side's defence.

Koscielny believes Mikel Arteta and Aaron Ramsey have played a vital role recently and deserve a lot of praise for the side's impressive defensive record.

The French defender also had special praise for the Welsh midfielder Ramsey after he has put in a string of fine performances.

"I don't know what the English word for it is, but in France we have a name for the sort of player that runs in front of the defence all the time," Koscielny told Arsenal Player.

"We have this [type of] player in Mikel and in Aaron. They work very hard and very well in midfield. When we have the ball, they play with passes. When we lose the ball, they have the quality to stop a lot of counter-attacks.

“They give themselves for the squad. I think they are the first and second players who run the most on the pitch during a game.

"Aaron puts in a lot of effort for the team. He's playing very well. He has good passing, he loves going from box to box so he's very important for the team - like every player. The season is very long and we need to have all players fit and confident for the squad."

Koscielny then went on to add that communication has also been majorly important in their improvement at the back.

"Yes it's true," he said. "Communication is important on the pitch, for defenders as well. All the time you have players moving so it's important just to talk. It's a little thing but it's very important for us.

"Yes [I shout more now]! My English is better so I talk more on the pitch. We are defenders so we can see everything on the pitch. I think every player on the pitch talks for their team mates because it's important - just to move two or three metres, we can stop a counter-attack.

"What's most important is to switch on quickly when we lose the ball," added Koscielny. "I think we did this very well in the last weeks. We need to keep [doing this] because after we lose the ball, we quickly win it back in the opponent's half and we can have a lot of opportunities."

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This article has been written by a member of the GiveMeSport Writing Academy and does not represent the views of
GiveMeSport.com or SportsNewMedia. The views and opinions expressed are solely that of the author credited at the top of this article.
GiveMeSport.com and SportsNewMedia do not take any responsibility for the content of its contributors.

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